Manufacturers yearn for real-time information: the data they need, when they need it, and where they need it. But achieving this has always been problematic. Even locating computer terminals on the factory floor, and in warehouses, has only moved many manufacturers part-way towards realising this goal.
It’s not difficult to see why. Having to walk a hundred yards to log onto a computer system isn’t really real-time. Even less real-time is an inventory or work-in-progress status that’s only correct once a day, when all the job tickets and work sheets are entered into the system.
And locating computers around the business does little for employees whose real-time data requirements extend beyond the four walls of the enterprise – salespeople and field service engineers, say, who want to be able to place orders, generate quotes, and issue invoices, all from a customer’s premises, or while on the road.
In each case, what’s needed is the ability to connect mobile devices to ERP systems, bringing real-time access to information for those employees who need it, when and where they need it.
Rugged devices were just a dream
Such a realisation isn’t new, of course. But, until recently, such mobile devices comprised such things as expensive laptop computers, or ruggedised terminals of the sort
used for reading barcodes and RFID tags. Low-cost, easy-to-use, simple and reasonably rugged mobile devices for the workplace were just a dream, says Darren Toy, business solutions manager for ECi Software Solutions’ M1 ERP system for manufacturing businesses.
“There’s been a revolution in affordability and capability in the mobile device market,” he enthuses. “It’s brought the prospect of true mobile real-time connectivity to ordinary small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses which have always previously regarded mobile connectivity as simply too expensive.”
And it’s not just the affordability paradigm that has changed, he adds. Accessibility has been transformed, too, with powerful mobile device operating systems experiencing enormous take-up in the consumer market. If someone can readily operate a smartphone or computer tablet at home, then the transition to using one in the workplace is going to be fairly seamless.
Roll it all together, in short, and ordinary small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses are waking up to the potential that this mobile device revolution is starting to offer them. Moreover, device manufacturers are seeing precisely the same thing, bringing to market a growing number of workplace-ruggedised devices specifically designed for use in manufacturing and warehouse environments.
Businesses will benefit in several ways, believes Toy. Fairly obviously, for instance, mobile access will deliver a transformation in information access, allowing users to query the ERP system from anywhere in the workplace.
“You’re in the factory, and there’s a batch of work where it shouldn’t be, or you’re in the warehouse looking at some dusty-looking inventory. In each case, you’ve got obvious information needs: what is it, why is it here, and who is responsible for it? And with a mobile device, you’ve got the answers you need, literally in the palm of your hand,” he enthuses.
“Equally, you’re in the factory, looking at a real-time reporting dashboard giving you quality, production, and uptime status—while you’re looking at the very equipment in question. The contrast with static paper reports, or dashboards chained to a computer workstation back in the office, is simply enormous.”
Moreover, adds Toy, modern mobile devices offer the ability to leverage the rich multimedia capabilities that are built into them, a feat that previous generations of mobile devices struggled to achieve. It’s the work of a few seconds, for instance, to capture photographic images, or even video clips.
Don’t forget, too, he points out, that as well as meeting users’ information needs, mobile devices also deliver a powerful transactional capability, making real-time information a genuine reality, as opposed to relying on job tickets and worksheets processed in batches at the end of shifts or workdays. Again, the rich multimedia capabilities of modern mobile devices help make this even easier by, say, reading barcodes, or triggering printouts.
Augmenting people’s productivity
Similarly, outside the four walls of the enterprise, mobile devices can do much to augment the productivity of field services engineers and salespeople. Producing real-time quotations and invoices, for instance. Querying the ERP system for inventory status, or billing information. And updating job status and visit status records. Likewise, too, those rich multimedia capabilities again come in handy, allowing customer requirements or equipment installations to be photographed, and instantly uploaded to the ERP system back at headquarters.
In short, sums up Toy, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that ECi Software Solutions is now building just these requirements into its own M1 ERP system for manufacturing businesses, with more capabilities being added all the time. Moreover, he adds, the flexible nature of ECi Software Solutions’ M1 architecture is well-positioned to take
advantage of the mobile revolution that is underway. It’s the work of a few clicks, for instance, to add a field to the ERP database in order to hold photographic images, a
feature that might stymie ERP vendors with less customisable databases.
And early feedback, it seems, has been very encouraging. Once provided with the capability to carry out mobile transactions and query the ERP system in real time, businesses quickly grasp the potential.
“In a way, it’s mirrored the takeup of smartphones, laptops, and tablet computers among consumers,” observes Toy. “Once people appreciate the power of mobile connectivity, it’s very difficult to imagine living without it. Likewise with manufacturing businesses with
mobile access to their ERP systems, businesses just can’t imagine going back to being tied to desktop computers and paper reports.”
Even so, he adds, ECi is very aware that the new mobile functionality that it is building is a work in progress, rather than a completed journey.
“We’ve delivered the basics: core functionality that will immediately deliver value, and make users and businesses more productive, right from the start,” he explains. “More functionality will come out in the weeks and months ahead, as user adoption grows, and mobile devices continue to penetrate the workplace.”
In a sales context, for instance, ECi has delivered a very capable mobile basic CRM capability, with salespeople able to prepare quotations while at customers’ premises,
view previous customer transactions and visit notes, and carry out visit note uploading.
In a warehouse context, meanwhile, users are able to carry out basic picking functions, review and manage all outstanding open orders, and update order fields.
On the factory floor, users can log onto specific operations, report back on levels of production output, scrap and rework, and also ‘sign on’ in an inspection capacity, and issue quality approvals.
Field service functionality is so far very similar, adds Toy, with engineers being able to log onto specific jobs, and report progress against them – a distinct improvement on end-of-day e-mails that either get lost, or don’t trigger database updates. Even so, a richer field
service experience is in the works: with more and more manufacturing businesses moving into aftersales field services, or working on a project-oriented basis, demand is very strong.
“Mobile is the future,” he sums up. “And every mobile transaction is live, updating the database in real-time: there’s no queuing, no batching, and no worries about worksheets or job tickets getting lost. It’s what manufacturers have wanted, and now they’ve got it.”
